Last week’s guest attorney wins free-speech case for Catholic student

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, received a victory last week in its lawsuit against teacher Johnson McDowell of Howell High School in Howell, Michigan who had disciplined a student for disagreeing with the teacher’s support of the homosexual agenda. The lead attorney for the Thomas More Law Center, Erin Mersino, was a guest on last week’s Faith on Trial and discussed the case with the program host, Deacon/Attorney Mike Manno.

The Court declared the teacher’s actions in punishing Daniel Glowacki violated his First Amendment rights.  The Court described how the teacher initiated a discussion about homosexuality, wore a purple t-shirt  promoting the homosexual agenda, and spoke in favor of it.  In response, the 16 year-old student stated that homosexuality was against his Catholic beliefs.  The teacher became angry and threw Daniel out of class. 

The teacher tried to blame Daniel and claimed he caused a disturbance.  The teacher’s claims were wholly unsupported by all of the other evidence in the case, including affidavits of students in the classroom and the teacher’s prior statements.  The teacher also tried to argue that Daniel’s religious statement was tantamount to “bullying.”  The Court dismissed that claim as well, holding that Daniel’s speech could not be silenced because the teacher did not like Daniel’s religious beliefs and viewpoint.

The ACLU appeared in the case as amicus and supported Daniel’s position against the teacher.